Knowledge and Weddings

Today is "Vasant Panchami" -- the 5th day of the "bright" half of the month of Magh in the Hindu calendar. (That means the 5th day after the new moon in this particular lunar month. "Panch" is five.) This day is set aside for Saraswati -- the goddess of knowledge.

Saraswati, Goddess of Knowledge. This was drawn on the white board by one of the Spice Academy teachers.

Spice Academy, where we have our Hindi lessons, celebrated Puja Saraswati. Prayers, songs, and gifts were offered to her. This was followed by a traditional Bengali lunch served on leaves as plates while sitting on the floor.

Floor art for the day -- drawn by the same teacher.

Pinky, myself, and Paromita at Spice Academy. Pinky is our Hindi teacher. Paro is a serious student of classical Indian dance and has been our information go-to person for learning about Indian culture. She also teaches at Spice. Yellow is Saraswati's color.

I took advantage of the day to get photos of some of the Spice regulars. This is "Kaka", which means "Uncle" in Hindi and Gujarati. He is a retired gentleman who works around Spice Academy -- especially on the weekends -- mostly he does some light sweeping and serves tea and water.

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Yesterday evening we went to a wedding reception in Silvassa -- about 15 km outside of Vapi in the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli. (It's not Gujarat, so alcohol is legal, and, much like Daman,  it is another nearby resort town.) The wedding ceremony itself is today in Surat -- about 120 km north of Vapi. This must be a particularly auspicious day for a wedding, because even as I type, a huge wedding is taking place on the other side of NH8, and I can hear the sound from the PA system as if it were next door.

The entrance to the wedding reception venue. This is pretty typical. The tent basically covered 4 sides of an apartment block, and you walked as if in a maze to the main reception area.

I wore a sari for the first time. Everyone seemed pleased.